i started to say this before the election day. the first step in the fiscal cliff ought to be a republican discussion about what they were and were not willing to do. that did that seem to take place until earlier this week. the conversation was inconclusive. the one thing that has not happened yet, democrats have provided the votes on a lot of budget-related matters over the years but it was only after the tea party gave boehner permission to negotiate with the democrats -- those circumstances have to happen. we see you pushed as hard as you could. we now need to get something done. we're going to vote against this but work with the democrats. host: we have spoken to a number of republicans who say that the problem is spending. the government needs to cut spending. that is where we need to go in terms of reducing the deficit. guest: that is true, we need to cut spending, but there is some conflicting other couple issues. we to cut long-term spending on retirement programs to make them more in line with economic growth, not make t